Athletics rough up Webb, down Diamondbacks

Jun 18, 2008 - 6:11 AM
PHOENIX (Ticker) -- On occasion, the Oakland Athletics have
shown they can explode offensively at any time. On Tuesday,
they proved it in a big way to Brandon Webb and the Arizona
Diamondbacks.

Mark Ellis homered twice and scored four times, powering the
Athletics to a 15-1 thrashing of the Diamondbacks.

After Ellis scored one of Oakland's two runs in the first
inning, he belted a solo shot off Webb (11-3) in the second. He
crossed the plate again in the Athletics' three-run fourth
before launching a three-run shot in the ninth for his first
two-homer game since July 23.

"We feel good right now," Ellis said. "We're swinging the bats
real well right now. This is usually the time of the year when
we start swinging the bats better, all the way down through the
lineup. We feel really good at the plate."

Oakland scored in each of the first five innings, including the
fourth, when Eric Chavez swatted a two-run shot. That closed
the book on one of the worst starts of Webb's career, as the
righthander surrendered seven runs and nine hits in just 3 1/3
innings, walking five and striking out three.

"Our offensive performance was the best of the year," Oakland
manager Bob Geren said. "Six homers, five doubles, eight or
nine walks. Obviously, (that's) a good recipe to score runs.

"We're happy to do that when you have (to face) a pitcher that's
11-2. Facing him, you wouldn't picture that being the end
result. Obviously, it's a great day for our offense. Doing it
against a pitcher of that caliber makes it more special."

The outing was Webb's shortest since a two-inning stint against
St. Louis on September 17, 2004, when the sinkerballer was
ejected early. The seven earned runs allowed by the righthander
in this one were the most he has permitted since also
surrendering seven against San Diego in his final start of the
2006 season.

Additionally, Webb allowed two homers in a start for the first
time since May 16, 2007 against the Colorado Rockies.

"Oddly enough, tonight he felt great," Diamondbacks manager Bob
Melvin said. "His velocity was back up. Maybe he had a little
trouble harnessing the movement on his sinker at times, but it
is one of those weird games. You've got to give them credit,
they hit some good pitches."

Despite having recorded 10 runs or more seven previous times
entering Tuesday, Oakland found itself just 20th in the league
in runs scored due to a somewhat inconsistent offense that had
hit 46 homers this season - tied for the third-worst mark in the
majors.

Both categories saw a substantial upgrade in Oakland's
series-opening rout as the Athletics tied their season high in
runs while watching Kurt Suzuki, Bobby Crosby and Rajai Davis
homer. The six blasts doubled the team's previous season best.

Justin Duchscherer (7-4) won his third straight start, allowing
a run and five hits with six strikeouts in eight frames.

"Early on, we scored some runs, and it gave me a cushion where I
felt I could go out there and pound the strike zone and let my
defense do its job," said Duchscherer, who improved to 4-1 with
a 1.52 ERA over his last five starts. "They made some great
plays behind me and we just kept adding on.

"It was one of those days where it's a good feeling for the team
to score a bunch of runs, and I felt like I threw the ball
pretty well."

Duchscherer was relieved from his 93-pitch outing by Andrew
Brown, who worked a perfect ninth.

The 14-run difference was the worst loss Arizona has suffered
since a 14-0 setback against Atlanta last July.

Edgar Gonzalez's groundout in the fifth plated the only run for
the fading Diamondbacks, who are just 16-25 after starting the
season with a major league-best 21-9 record.

MLAT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY BOBBY CROSBY (4) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 9TH OFF BRANDON LYON.CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 10, ARIZONA 1DUE UP FOR OAKLAND: C GONZALEZ (.250, 0-FOR-3, BB, RBI)